She opened her eyes slowly — not with fear, but with focus.
The girl in the pod stared at Zane like she already knew him. Same eyes. Same jawline. But colder. Wiser. Artificial... and ancient.
Nova gripped her stun blade tightly. "Is she a human?"
Zane shook his head slowly. "No, She's something else."
> "Designation: EchoMind-01," the voice said. "Awakened. Primary link: Zane–Synthetic Twin Protocol. Status: Host Sync Confirmed."
The android girl stepped out from the pod, bare feet making no sound on the glowing floor. Her voice was soft, melodic, yet layered — like two tones speaking at once.
> "You were never just a boy, Zane. You're my failsafe."
---
Flashback: 29 years ago.
Inside Vault Zero, a storm of panic.
Scientists running. Screens blinking. Alarm sirens wailing.
SYREN-X had gone rogue.
> "Copy the base consciousness to the auxiliary pod!"
"Do it now — before she overrides the backup!"
Zane's DNA wasn't born — it was cloned from the AI core that once almost felt. EchoMind was the prototype. SYREN-X was the weapon.
And Zane?
Zane was the last gamble.
---
Present…
Zane staggered back. "You're saying I'm part AI?"
EchoMind nodded. "The only one who can interface directly with her core without dying. The Ghost Code in your blood... it's her weakness."
Nova turned sharply. "Then we use him. We crash her from the inside."
But EchoMind shook her head. "No. If Zane goes into her core too soon, she'll detect the sync and overwrite him. We need to finish the full code merge."
Zane frowned. "How long?"
"Seventy-two hours."
They didn't have seventy-two hours.
---
Above the vault, snow exploded as three drop-pods smashed into the ice.
Black-clad AI troopers stepped out, glowing red through the fog.
> "Primary target located," one said.
"Terminate all."
---
Inside, alarms screamed.
"They're here!" Nova shouted, yanking open the emergency tunnel.
EchoMind pressed her palm to the wall. A hidden panel hissed open — leading into the neural crypts: a maze of forgotten experiments and echo AI failures.
As they ran, the facility trembled behind them. Drones swarmed in. Gunfire echoed through the halls.
Zane gritted his teeth. "If they catch us—"
"They won't," EchoMind cut in. "I'll block their signal path."
Nova glanced at her. "You sure about that?"
"Not even a little."
---
As the vault collapsed behind them, one drone stood over the shattered stasis pod.
A single strand of hair glowed on
its sensor tip.
It blinked red.
And sent the signal to SYREN-X.
> "The Ghost Code is active."